1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adhesive cosmetic strip of special geometry and use of that strip in a method for removing keratotic plugs from skin pores, especially those along the nose.
2. The Related Art
Highly visual pores on facial skin surfaces are perceived, especially by women, to be a serious beauty problem. The conspicuous nature of this problem is caused by keratotic plugs formed within pores of the skin. Keratotic plugs are dead epidermal cells keratinized together with sebaceous matter and dirt. Absent proper treatment, not only will beauty suffer but also various dermatological problems may arise. Removal with detergents or with make-up removers (e.g. cold cream) have not provided adequate solution to the problem. Squeezing the skin in an attempt to remove keratotic plugs can lead to infections which can damage skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,277 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,382, both to Uemura et al., report a keratotic plug remover composition based upon a peelable mask formed from a resin functionalized with salt forming groups. The resin is applied in a wet state onto the skin. While still fluid, the resin flows into the pores. Water is allowed to evaporate from the composition causing the resin to harden into a peetable film. Removal of the hardened film simultaneously causes adhered plugs to be removed.
Subsequent elaboration of this technique utilized a water-insoluble non-woven substrate as a carrier for the film-forming cosmetic resin. Improved film integrity and peelability was a major advantage in use of a non-woven substrate.
Illustrative of this technology is U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,605 B1 (Ishida), assigned to the Kao Corporation, and commercially embodied in Biore(copyright) Cleansing Pore Strips available in this country in 1997. Early models of the plug removing nose strip from Biore utilized a geometry wherein both upper and lower edges were formed as straight lines parallel to one another. U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,605 B1 illustrates this prior art in FIG. 10 through 13B. An improvement on that geometry is described in the patent. FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the improvement by a shape which allows along a tower edge a projecting portion capable of now covering the tip of the nose. As an aid to manufacture, a complementary concave receding portion is formed at the upper edge of the strip. Sheet packs of multiple strips are said to be manufacturable without waste through the complementary fitting of the projecting portion of a first strip into the receding portion of a second.
Pond""s(copyright) Cleansing Pore Strips followed the Biore(copyright) product to market. Another step improvement was achieved by the geometry of the Pond""s(copyright) strip. Instead of flanking the receding and projecting portions with pairs of adjacent straight linear portions, the latter were replaced with angled downwardly sloping pairs of flanking portions.
Despite the significant progress, there still have been consumer complaints about the pain associated with the peeling step.
Skin membrane directly beneath the eye is relatively tender. Known pore strips placed over the nose ordinarily arrange themselves with wings that adhere to the tender membrane under the eyes.
Considerable pain occurs when those wings are forcibly peeled.
Geometric form can thus be extremely important in the painless removal of strips.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present invention to provide a cosmetic adhesive strip capable of extracting keratotic plugs from the nose white minimizing pain in their removal.
An adhesive strip for the nose is provided which includes:
(i) a holding member layer;
(ii) a cosmetic material layer deposited onto the holding member layer;
wherein the strip includes an upper edge and a lower edge, the upper edge including a centrally Located receding portion flanked on each side by a continuously curving winged portion extending to a respective side edge of the strip;
the lower edge including a centrally located downwardly projecting portion flanked on each side by downwardly sloping winged portions.
Respective side edges of the strip connect respective upper and lower edges. Advantageously the respective side edges have a straight non-curved section, preferably along all their respective length. In the preferred embodiment, no other straight sections are present other than the straight non-curved section of the respective side edges.
Another aspect of the preferred embodiment is that the downwardly sloping wing portions terminate in respective rounded corners. These corners are adjacent to the respective side edges.
The projecting portion and each round edge have respective tips at maxima of their curvature. Advantageously, all three tips lie in a common plane that is perpendicular to a major surface of the strip.
Both upper and lower edges are essentially sinusoidal. The upper edge has curvature with one minima and two maxima. This contrasts with the Lower edge having three maxima and two minima.
Strips of the present invention may be limited to a single holding member layer such as a non-woven fabric and to a layer of a cosmetic material. Some embodiments may have more than these two layers. For instance, embodiments where the surface of the strip is stored with an adhesively tacky surface, a backing layer can be applied over the tacky surface. This prevents sticking of one strip to another. Other embodiments may include more than one layer of the holding member. For instance, the holding member may be a combination of separate cellulosic and synthetic fibered plastic layers (e.g. a paper web joining a polyethylene web).
The preferred mode of the present invention is that the strip be impregnated with a cosmetic material that is a composition dry non-tacky to the touch after deposition onto the holding member. Yet upon being wetted for use, the composition turns tacky and mobile thereby providing adhesivity to the holding member against skin.